The Weekend
by NotARedhead
Summary: It's Monday morning and everyone is back from the weekend. Except that Sam is late. That's all I'm sayin'. This is a one-shot; it is complete. Standard disclaimer. All hail Shane Brennan.


**The Weekend**

"I'm tellin' ya … no better way to spend a weekend than lying on a beach … toes in the water, ass in the sand, beer in the cooler …"

Kensi regarded her partner. "I cannot believe you're quoting a country western lyric from the Zac Brown Band."

"I cannot believe you know that I'm quoting a country western lyric from the Zac Brown Band," Deeks said with a grin.

She opened her mouth to offer another retort when a shrill whistle came from the level above. They looked up to see Nell standing there, waving them up the stairs.

"Little girl can whistle like a sailor," Deek said, with appreciation.

"You're gonna take Eric's job away," Kensi said, as she headed up the stairs.

"Never," Nell said with a laugh. "But he did spend all weekend teaching me how to do …" she pointed to where she'd just been standing and reenacted the 'whistle' pose, "… that."

"Another productive weekend, I see," Hetty offered dryly. Nell grinned at her keyboard as she sat next to Eric.

"And you, Miss Blye?" Hetty asked. "Anything exciting to report?"

Kensi looked a bit confused. "Excuse me?"

Deeks leaned towards her. "Your weekend," he whispered, prompting her.

"Oh …" Kensi smiled at Hetty.

Hetty raised her eyebrows.

"Oh!" Kensi said, reddening slightly. "Um … well … no," she stammered. "I actually … um … I did … really … nothing all weekend." She chuckled and looked around the room. "You know … sleeping in, eating too much, watching mindless episodes of Pawn Stars …"

"I ate octopus for the first time," Eric offered. "And taught Nell how to whistle." He looked very pleased with himself.

"You just put your lips together and blow …" Callen said, as he walked into the Ops Center.

"Movie marathon on Turner Movie Classics?" Deeks said, cocking his head to the side.

"All weekend," Callen replied. "Just me, popcorn, movies, peace and quiet." He smiled and sighed. A look of confusion came across his face as he looked around. "Where's Sam?" he non sequitured.

Just at that moment, Sam came running into the Ops Center, bag in hand, looking rushed, tired and worse for the wear. "Here …" he said, screeching to a halt and tossing his bag in a corner. "Here."

"Running a bit late, Mr. Hanna?" Hetty said, with a small grin.

"Busy weekend?" from Deeks.

Callen laughed and walked over to his partner, getting right up in his face and looking closely. "Forget to shave?" he said, patting Sam's cheek and feeling a bit of stubble.

Sam wrinkled his brow and stepped away from Callen. "I was in a hurry," he said. "Running late."

When it became obvious that the team needed a bit more of an explanation, he continued. "I was out of town for the weekend. Sue me."

"We will wait, Mr. Hanna," Hetty said, "while you deposit your belongings properly and take a moment to complete your morning toilette." She smiled sweetly and pointed to his bag in the corner. "And while we wait," she continued, "I will have someone come up and remove the sand that Mr. Hanna seems to have trailed in. I'll be back shortly."

"She does everything 'shortly'," Deeks whispered to Kensi.

"I heard that, Mr. Deeks," Hetty said as she exited.

Kensi elbowed her partner in the ribs as the rest of the team turned to look at Sam. Callen raised his eyebrows.

"I would not be tracking sand into Hetty's Ops Center," he said in a lightly scolding tone.

"Seriously," Eric added. "Trust me."

Sam looked at all of them, shook his head, grabbed his bag, and headed out the door. "I'm going downstairs to 'deposit my belongings properly and complete my morning toilette'," he said, in his best Hetty imitation. And with that, he was out the door.

"Well …," Kensi began. "Clearly Sam wins the Weekend Warrior award."

"And it was a long weekend to boot," Deeks added. "Didn't he leave on, like, Wednesday night?"

Callen furrowed his brow in thought. Thoughts that were interrupted by Eric.

"Guys …" Eric said. "Guys?" He upped the volume on the TV screen where a ZNN reporter was just coming on with a special report.

"Intelligence is still coming in, but here's what we know," the announcer said. "In a daring raid in Pakistan yesterday, a small, powerful and anonymous team of Navy SEALS descended on a compound where Osama bin Laden was thought to be living. The SEALS discovered and killed the Al Quaeda leader after a brief firefight. No American forces were killed or injured."

The team looked at each other in surprise. This was amazing news! On the screen, the TV anchor was chatting with the reporter on-site in Pakistan.

"Yes," the reporter was answering, "… it was a very covert mission, known to only a handful of people outside the Situation Room at the White House. We can't even get confirmation on where the SEAL team came from. It's as if a bunch of highly-trained operatives just decided to take a long weekend and plan and execute a mission to take out the world's most wanted man." He continued, "This was such a quick in-and-out – it's safe to say that the SEALS in question are probably still kicking sand off their boots."

Eric turned down the TV as Nell looked at the rest of the team in confusion. "A long weekend?" she said.

"An unidentified team of SEALS …" Kensi offered.

"Covert," Deeks added.

They all looked at Callen, who turned to look at the door through which Sam had just exited. "Still kicking sand off their boots …" he said slowly, his voice trailing off.

There was a moment of total silence before the entire group of them said, in unison, "Naaaaaah."

They turned back to the screen to watch the news as Sam approached Hetty at the foot of the stairs. They shared a conspiratorial look as they headed back up to the Ops Center to join the others.

"Nicely done, Mr. Hanna," she said with a nod. "Nicely done."

# # #


End file.
